"When Gov. Charlie Crist announced Florida's $1.75 billion plan to save the Everglades by buying out a major landowner, United States Sugar, he declared that the deal would be remembered as a public acquisition 'as monumental as the creation of the nation's first national park, Yellowstone.'

Standing amid the marshes at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in June 2008, Mr. Crist said, 'I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, the people of Florida and the people of America -- as well as our planet -- than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration.'

Nearly two years later, the governor's ambitious plan to reclaim the river of grass, as the famed wetlands are known, is instead on track to rescue the fortunes of United States Sugar."